WikiLeaks: Turkish Prime Minister has eight accounts in Swiss banks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s financial assets and the way he made “his fortune” were the subjects of two of the cables sent by the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, documents leaked as part of a release late Sunday, November 28 by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.

“We have heard from two contacts that Erdogan has eight accounts in Swiss banks; his explanations that his wealth comes from the wedding presents guests gave his son and that a Turkish businessman is paying the educational expenses of all four Erdogan children in the U.S. purely altruistically are lame,” Eric Edelman, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, wrote in a cable sent to Washington on Dec. 30, 2004.

Edelman, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, argued that the widespread corruption would be an important factor that could degrade Erdogan’s ability to run the country.

Another claim by the ambassador put prominent AKP officials in the spotlight; Edelman listed former ministers Abdulkadir Aksu, Kursat Tuzmen and Istanbul provincial chairman Mehmet Muezzinoglu as the most corrupt politicians in Turkey, Hurriyet Daily News reported.